


Tomorrow

by astrolithy



Category: Original Work
Genre: Al(Main Female Character), Arson, Crimes & Criminals, Lucas (Main Male Character), Max (Main Male Character), My First AO3 Post, Mystery, young adult
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-22 02:57:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14299260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrolithy/pseuds/astrolithy
Summary: Al expected to live out life in Beverly like everyone else.It was a place where things flowed. You were meant to goto highschool, leave for college, and come back for visitingOld friends. Beverly was a place to return to. Never didshe imagine it would be a place to flee. People wouldoccasionally shake the foundation of the town, but for a townwith the main crime being loitering-- it was rare.When Spring came It had meant time for change.Al would be getting her college letters soon,And maybe that meant she could fix things.She could end this cycle of dullness.However she had no control of this,When April had come around, the townHad fell into shock-- So was AlAs a neighbor’s house burned downAnd she, she was caught in the middle of it.





	Tomorrow

**Where It all Started**

 

Thursday January 14th, 2018 

 

I haven’t written in this journal for a while, I mostly forgot about it. I guess a lot has been forgotten since I left. After that incident, when I had to leave, I just threw anything I could think of into my bag. I wish that I had slowed down and thought, and stayed. Seeing the police at my door triggered something in me. It wasn’t smart that I saw him looking for me right after, and decided to meet up with him. The adrenaline triggered a fight-or-flight situation in me and I wasn’t thinking, neither was he. However his ability to be able to act as if we will be okay, as if our whole lives haven’t been changed by the course of HIS ACTIONS-- it is insane. I wish I could say that it has been easier. But for now the only thing I know is that things are only getting worse. I am starting to miss home. At first I believed it was for the best, that things would get better. Not just for me but for my family and all of Beverly. Now I think that I was dumb. After what happened with Lucas recently I am thinking about returning home. I can’t handle keeping this in, It is bubbling up inside of me and I feel like i am going to fall apart. The worst thing right now would be the cops finding out where I am and getting jailed for what _he_ did. Hopefully it won’t come to that, and I can return home and escape it all. It can’t get worse than what already happened, It has been 9 months after all. New Hampshire is so different from Massachusetts it makes me miss everything: the business of it all, how the town could all come together for the seasons. Currently my life is just a repeating cycle-- trying to get by day by day. I feel more like I am surviving than living. Not only that, but it is like it’s own country here, everything is so isolated. The nearest convenience store is nearly twenty minutes away and the main traffic is from tourists. I have seen the occasional New Hampshire license plates but nobody has noticed that our cabin isn’t abandoned anymore I guess it is a good thing since nobody has found us yet, but the change of scenery only has me on edge. I wish i could just go home-- return like everything was fine and go off to some college. . .

 

Sunday April 3rd, 2017. Late at Night. 

 

Growing up I believed that Sundays were something magical. It was the time that everything fell together and it seemed perfect. I would wake up at 7am and have breakfast with Mom, Dad, and David (my brother). If we were lucky, once a month our grandparents would come up to visit. They lived in Florida, which made visits rare, but during the summer we would be able to travel down for the weather. After breakfast ended we would get ready to go to church. Our neighbors, the Safers, would drive behind us to church and we’d all go in together. The church seemed magical when we arrived, as it would always be 10 minutes early. My father was punctual like that and I enjoyed seeing the beauty of the church before It became packed. The stained glass paintings reflected onto the pews, coloring the room in rainbow hues. I tended to be more of an extrovert while growing up, loving the excited atmosphere of being in a crowd. Church was like that, when it was packed with people there was this excited feel to it. Everything felt alive and buzzing with energy.

 

But now it was no longer the case. When I was 11 years old my brother graduated high school. I think because he was the first child, my father had put all his faith in him. Growing up I always saw my brother as smart, strong, and ambitious. I think he was just being pressured from my dad though. At the crack of dawn, when I got ready for middle school, my brother and I would be awake before our parents were up. He would be hunched over his laptop doing work before he moved into college dorms, spending most of his time drinking coffee after coffee. I remember counting how many cups of coffee he had in a day, it become a secret game to me. Once I was so amazed that he had ten cups of coffee, that I went up and told him about it; However It didn’t look like he was that happy with my “research”. My father had given up on me after everything he had been through with my brother. He wasn’t that old yet but any reminder of my generation seemed to annoy him, he _was_ the back in my day trope. My Father tried to reassure me though, but it was mostly in vain, as he asked daily what was new in school and how my day went. It was pitiful and I wish he would just stop pretending instead of wasting all this time. Luckily today I would be able to escape. It was weird interlude before Spring Break started. This meant teachers were going easy on us, they knew if they tried to actually teach we all would be complaining.  This luckily meant that I had finished my homework early and had the whole night free. Most parents turned a blind eye to the parties that went on during the weekend. Mom and Dad turned a bit too much of a blind eye, Mom tried to resonate with me though. I guess she felt bad for the lack of attention dad had. But with two parents that didn’t pay enough attention it meant I could go to a party for fun. They weren’t the best parties in the world, sometimes It felt like more of a party to be home alone, however it would give me some type of energy. Most people at the parties were easy-going, as long as you showed up and attempted to be sociable all would be fine.

 

Anyways it gave the reassurance to go to a party and let myself drift away. Walking inside I was hit with a wave of heat. It was unnecessarily crammed with people lining the rooms. Looking at them It felt like they were from a different universe: some appeared to be middle-schoolers, still crawling with teenage nerves, while the others looked a bit too open and relaxed. Scanning the room, I saw some familiar faces from my classes, but none I particularly liked. It was a small town but when it came to parties people from nearby seemed to get attracted as well. I stopped to chat for a bit, but staying in a crowded living room was a huge danger zone. I went into the kitchen where it was less crowded, and I could feel myself breathing-- and not just in the gross sweat of bodies. Leaning against the counter, I allowed myself to be pulled into other people's lives. This girl was rambling on to the whole kitchen about some backstabbing friend. She was putting on a display as she talked: emphasizing her words and making crazy hand motions left and right. After being cramped up for so long in this kitchen, i felt myself itching for something to happen-- and was starting to get dizzy from everything around me I wouldn’t say I am claustrophobic, but it was starting to build tension and I was getting more irritated by the minute as this girl went on and on. Needing to escape I decided to go to the backyard-- being a typical weekend party I had no faith in the living room, the basement probably included some type of drug being inhaled, and whatever was being born upstairs. Testing my luck, I decided it was the best place to cool down. The cool spring air hit my face as I stepped out to the backyard. The muddy weather didn’t help too much but it helped to give some numbness. It looked like it was just a  bunch of loners and weirdos outside, but it was better than being home. I spotted Max sitting by the edge of the pool and decided to wander over. I could handle Max. I’d known him since 9th grade and he had been mainly a mystery to me. We had been in the same friend group for a while, but it was distant just close enough to get through school. I could also handle snagging a cigarette from him, I definitely needed one unless I felt like exploding and being the talk of the school Monday.

 

“Hey Max.” I said as I sat down on the edge of the empty pool.

“Hey, you tired of the party?”

“You know it.” I responded, slowly pulling a Marlboro out of the cigarette box between us.

I nudged Max’s shoulder knowing he could probably help me out, “You got a lighter I can borrow?”

Luckily he did, and he didn’t seem to mind me taking a cigarette or two either. Pulling out a tiny silver lighter, he flicked the flame to life. I took the chance to take the cigarette between my two fingers and light the tobacco--

 

“Shit!” I pressed onto my fingers, applying pressure, as tiny sparks of pain went through them. Of Course I would manage to practically burn off my fingertips. How smooth.

“Well at least you still have 8 fingers that are working well? I’m sure your fingerprints won’t be missed.” Max said as he took the cigarette out of my hand, lighting it for me.

“Yeah, I guess. could really use some water, you’d think a pool would have one.”

“Huh, no kidding.”

“This party is such a drag,” I said laughing

“I know, I wish I was home sleeping..”

The party was such a blur that I started to get worn out. Letting myself relax, I layed down on the grass to stare up at the sky. We drifted into a comfortable silence as the night just echoed. I began to calm down from the atmosphere of the party and drift off, however the pounding of music in the background left me on edge. As people walked outside all the yelling from inside escaped, popping the bubble I was in.

“Ugh, It is not the day to fall asleep at some random party, I think I am gonna head home.”

“Tell me about it. I am probably going to stay here for a while though, make sure to drive safe.” Max replied as he turned to look at me.

 

Getting home I was able to sneak in undetected. From the looks of it Mom and Dad were heavily asleep and my brother was in his room. For him spring break had already started when April did, but for now I had the stress of school to force me through the next couple weeks. I knocked on his door lightly to let him know I was alright and decided to head off to bed. Collapsing on my bed I felt the weariness of the night take over.

Tomorrow, April 4th, 2017 

 

Waking up was terrible. Nevermind the notion that I had to get ready for school and present myself as okay. Well as “okay” as everyone at school-- news flies fast at Beverly High School but that doesn’t even account for how fast the news of Lucas Stevens spread. I had English first class and being the first class of the day, it was terrible. All I could think was about was how shitty it was. Lucas didn’t show up for school and that reason was painstakingly obvious. A little context for the situation. Lucas was the host of that “wasteful party”.. And also the one whose house burnt down. Last night I had left the party at around 12:45 due to having to get SOME sleep for a test tomorrow. But now that test was definitely not happening. Everyone was repeating the same timeline of the fire: At 2:30 someone screamed “FIRE!” and the party went up in flames-- well not literally. The Grass in the backyard had set on fire and started to spread to the back of the house. When the person screamed everyone shoved past each other to get out, some people apparently were kind enough to wake up the passed out kids. People who were there say that crowds of students were pulling out of the house. But by 3 am only a couple were still at the scene of the crime. God those kids were prestigious now, you wouldn’t think seeing a scene being marked as arson would be fun. Well guess again because these kids had become the most notorious and famous kids in the halls, everyone wanting them to retell what had happened. Max had texted me last night after I fell asleep, telling me that he was at the scene and what had went down with the police. However I assume that he was hiding in the back, although nobody was thinking it, you wouldn’t want to be those kids. After word began to spread around the school, they were called down to the office, news was that a detective had arrived to question them. With the amount of underage and illegal activity at the house, I wouldn’t even want to be on the same street as Lucas’ house. The one thing people don’t know is who called 911, but I guess it doesn’t matter too much since it was an electrical issue.

 

Well the main point is that he was the kid whose house burnt down last night.

 

All I know-- All the  students know anyways--Is that by the 8am when everyone was awake, the house was pitch black. And no I don’t mean pitch black dark, I mean pitch black burnt. The police said it was most likely a circuit overheat and that a outlet could have sparked. Some leftovers were found but for the most part, Lucas had lost everything to his name..

 

Walking into second class I felt jittery. Chemistry was a class I was normally excited for, but the life was sucked out of everyone. When announcements came on everyone seemed to sink into realization. I was able to push out the thoughts earlier but now all I could think about was Lucas’ family. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were away on a business trip in Florida. Lucas was apparently dealing with the police alone, although he was 18 years old I couldn’t imagine how he must have felt.  Mr. Hender talked on for the remainder of the hour, trying to push away the tragedy of it all. He was lecturing on and on about chemistry reactions, however I couldn’t focus on anything he was saying. I tried to jot down notes from the lesson but gave up. It seems like only half the class was listening intently to what he was saying, but that didn’t cause him to stop or change up the lesson. It seemed ironic to me as he went over the steps to writing combustion reactions-- I’m not sure if anyone else thought it but it only emphasized everything that was happening. On the morning news there was news reports talking about the fire and how cops were investigating it. They had filmed outside of what was left of Lucas’ house and Mom had made a comment on how she felt bad for Lucas after _all he had been through_. Walking into school wasn’t much better either. There were news trucks filming the people going in along with reporters talking to the cameras by the entrance. Supposedly the principal had gone down and tried to shoo them off, but If I learned anything from class was that they had the awful right to be here. Everything was piling up from today and all the tension running through the school. Letting my focus drop I decided to try to calm down.  I’d be able to read about what we learned in my textbook later at home anyways. I started to draw mindlessly on my paper, letting my mind wander. Hopefully Mr.Hender would understand that we couldn’t focus and not call on me randomly. It felt surreal for this all to be happening, sure you hear about things like this happening-- gossip isn’t anything new in this town. However it wasn’t anything major and it never seemed to be so intense. I can tell you all about a girl named Abbey’s locker room incident or how Max had a breakdown in 8th grade; But I can’t explain any of what is going on right now. Everyone talking about it like it is some high school drama, it’s starting to make me go insane. I just can’t wait to get out of this school. I wish Max was here right now, in Chemistry he usually sits next to me, and I bet he would understand what I am feeling It wasn’t unusual for him to miss school but he tended to do it towards the end of the week. I was starting to get worried for him honestly, his birthday was getting closer and closer; While Max was starting to drift away. Hopefully he would be fine but I was afraid that it would bring up family issues for him.

 

Everyone at school was restless from the media circulating around us. The hallways were filled with windows and walking to class seemed like a expedition, reminding us of the cruel world outside. I think the staff felt the same was as school was cancelled after second block. I wish I could stay here for a while, but they also cancelled any after-school activities. I personally think it is a dumb idea, all it does is cause the town to worry more. On such short notice, the buses arrived 15 minutes late since it wasn’t the scheduled time. This reduced me to sitting outside on the sidewalk, with everyone who had to take a bus, as the rest of the school enjoyed the comfort of being able to relax. Most of the reporters had left, probably to go edit the videos they shot for some feature on our town and it’s _tragic_ fire. However there was one or two still left interviewing people in the distant. I was repulsed to think that anyone would want to be on camera spreading information about Lucas, selfish enough to invade his privacy and sell any information you know about him. It was all I could hear about while waiting: “Lucas and his house... that poor kid..I wonder if it was an accident.. “ It all nauseated me and I began to feel like the town was getting smaller and smaller. From all angles people were talking about, not even trying to whisper. Right next to me were some of the kids in my English class, Suzy, John, Nick and Emma. Usually they maintained a outgoing and friendly exterior to people at the school. I’ve heard them gossip before but it usually didn’t get far. However it seemed with the development of the story, all of them could only think of a fake explanation.

 

“Do you think It was someone at the party who did it?!”

“I heard that someone left a burning cigarette,”

“Same!”

“I heard it was a joint?”

“Whoever did it was high on something all right, why would they target Lucas?”

“I am not surprised. He has been getting more and more unlike himself recently. I swear that two weeks ago he was trying to get in my bed and then a couple days after he basically pushed me away when I tried to talk!”

“God that jerk!”

“Are you sure he isn’t the one who did it?”

“Whatever it is, It won’t stay out for long..”

 

I was tempted to interject and tell Suzy she was a dumbass to think Lucas deserved it. Sure, maybe he did, but it wasn’t because he was becoming unlike himself. Suzy, as outgoing as she was, was known for becoming a bit too invasive with people. Most people ignored her misfortunes, especially her friend group, but she was constantly pushing  on people. If there was something worse than a Hopeless Romantic… well it would be Suzy. She put that name to shame and then acted as if she was only trying to be sincere and kind. If anything It seemed like Lucas was isolating himself more in the past month, he was different to how I’ve seen him since he started being in my classes. Halfway through freshman year he switched into a couple classes of mine, and occasionally throughout my years he would be in a class or two. This year we shared chemistry and history. We weren’t close by any means, but once you have one or two classes with someone you begin to relax around them, and see them as more of a person. So I guess I picked up on the fact he was distancing himself. In History my teacher is pretty relaxed about where we sit-- needless to say Suzy was in that class. Lucas usually ignored her and talked to his friends when she sat next to him. However the past week he just came in late everyday with his pink tardy slip and sat at the seat in the back-- next to me. Maybe Suzy thought that from me sitting next to him, we had some exclusive friendship. Whatever she thought, It made her speak to me when she saw me sitting with everyone else she had to speak up.

 

“Hey _Allie_ , You sit next to Lucas in History, what’s up with him,” Suzy said, glancing over me as the words sounded bitter off her tongue.

 

My name is Al i thought, but knowing Suzy that wouldn’t stop her from calling me Allie everytime she needs something from me. I opened by mouth trying to forge a response out, but luckily my lack of response was saved by the bus. Our bus driver pulled to a stop as a mass of students began to get up and shuffle to be the first ones to the back of the bus. Not wanting to be stuck with Suzy or any other kids I recognized, I allowed myself to stay put until almost everyone was on the bus. This allowed me to get a seat up front surrounded by people that wouldn’t bother with me and I could just listen to my music in peace. Settling down in my seat I reached in my backpack for my phone. The battery life was almost dead. Mom had left a message telling me she would be out doing errands, and a few snapchats flooded in which were most likely for “streaks”. Putting my phone on airplane mode, I decided to stare out the window until my stop came. Early spring meant that everything was coming back to life. Beverly seemed to be a ghost town during the winter, the trees had a thin look to them without the leaves. Snow was pretty common during the winter, but it seemed to be less and less over the past couple of years. Looking at the houses on the street, I imagined myself walking down them-- on my way home. However the bus turned down a side road to drop off some kids and I was pulled back to myself.

 

Coming home the house was empty, on the kitchen counter there was a note from Dad saying to text him when I got home. I know he probably wouldn’t remember leaving the note, and if he did it wasn’t important. So I crumpled the note, dropping it in the recycling bin on my way up to my room. It was obvious that mom had spent the afternoon cleaning, all the doors open slightly with the hallway looking nice and clean-- displaying photos of our family.  Falling back onto my bed, I plugged my phone in and just laid there for a while. I stared up at the ceiling rubbing my temples, school had been a nightmare and I really didn't it feel like returning back. Work was starting to get more complicated as finals started to come around and I doubt anyone in the school could focus with all the talk floating around. My mind seemed to race as all I could think about was memories from last night. I took my phone off my bedside table and tried to find a distraction, opening my calendar to see what was upcoming. From the looks of it finals were only two weeks away and not only that but I had to help set up for Max’s birthday two days before. We weren’t extremely close but I managed to stick with a group of friends since freshman year. Some people have really close friends they stick with until college, however I honestly couldn’t care less. I just wanted to get through school and that was fine for me, we’d casually get together and do celebrations but it wasn’t some elite thing, I probably saw them more in school than out of it.


End file.
